363 comments on “Playoff Thread: Knicks @ Heat”

I gotta say, no one covered the NBA better than NBC as far as tapping into the emotion, drama and theatre of the game. This is a matchup SO rich in history and intrigue and they completely blew it in the pregame. Hopefully the game itself lives up. Praying for Amare (production) and Chandler (health). GO KNICKS!!!

Except Wade and Lebron won’t be out of the game at the same time at any point…..Woodson needs to realize that we need to have Stat or Melo out there at all time.
Man >> Tyson is almost a liability out there…sad to see him like that

Thomas B.:
Our reserves are better than Miami’s so this is a chance to get back in it.

johnlocke:
Except Wade and Lebron won’t be out of the game at the same time at any point…..Woodson needs to realize that we need to have Stat or Melo out there at all time.
Man >> Tyson is almost a liability out there…sad to see him like that

Wade and LBJ can’t play every position even if they play every minute.

llcoolbp: Melo gets absolutely abused on every drive to the hoop. I almost threw up in my mouth when I just saw that last foul call.

Novak made up for it by throwing Wade to the floor on the next possession (but then he seemed a little too careful not to fall on him afterwards. I say Dwayne Wade = Human Airbag. He’s there for YOUR protection, Steve. Use him!

It’s tough playing 5 on 8 lol, and yet if Melo was making anything the Knicks might be up. Miami’s getting nothing out of their half court offense except fouls and offensive rebounds, if the refs at least swallow their whistles both ways the Knicks have a chance to pull this out.

Going forward, the offense needs to adjust to the fact that Melo is getting fronted hard on every post play. Either they need to quickly get into some other action, they need to try to flash someone else open while everyone is focused on Melo, or they need to set screens to get Melo open like Dallas did with Dirk last year. Melo’s having to work far too hard right now, Lebron isn’t even having to guard Melo.

Geezus:
Some 2nd half tips for getting hired after the post-season Woodson:
Sit Chandler in the 2nd half…he’s not helping.
JR Smith needs to play with more discipline…WTF
JR Smith is not a PG, neither is Shumpert….play Baron with 3 fouls who the fuck cares at this point
Don’t run the same play over and over again for Melo
Get Amare involved in the offense

This league has become a joke. Lebron getting calls that MJ didn’t even get. Makes me want to puke.
I’d love to see the knicks just get on a plane and go home. Make a statement to the NBA. At this rate, they’re going to be embarrassed in four.

Dolan needs to pull a Phil Jackson/Marc Cuban and just go off on a rant about the refs after this game. Make them fucking reconsider the fact that they’re on national TV doing their jobs about as well as fucking hobos.

More and more, the NBA seems fixed. You don’t see this type of one-sided violation called in any other sport.
Stern making this into phoney Wrestling (WWF?) stuff. And what’s up with the idea that you can’t criticize a ref? THEY SUCK!

BigBlueAL:
Is everyone here actually really blaming the refs for this ass-whooping??The Knicks offense is looking like a middle-school offense but its the refs’ fault??

Have you not been watching this game? Heat have gotten at least 6-8 points on flops and non calls, half the Knicks’ turnovers are close charges that have all gone Miami’s way, and Baron and Chandler are both already in serious foul trouble, which is why JR is handling the ball so much.

This game is over, but it will interesting to see if the NYK can get up off the mat and put up some fight, and at least match Miami’s intensity. If they don’t, it will be a bad, bad sign and this series may be over quickly.

Juany8:
Dolan needs to pull a Phil Jackson/Marc Cuban and just go off on a rant about the refs after this game. Make them fucking reconsider the fact that they’re on national TV doing their jobs about as well as fucking hobos.

I like that idea. If you got billions, what the hell. Take one for the team.

BigBlueAL:
Is everyone here actually really blaming the refs for this ass-whooping??The Knicks offense is looking like a middle-school offense but its the refs’ fault??

THANK YOU. The bad (and it is bad) reffing is practically beside the point. The Knicks are playing so terribly it barely matters. Stagnant, uncreative offense, terrible turnovers, dumb fouls. Teams that don’t play smartly and assertively don’t get the benefit of the doubt from the refs, and they sure as hell don’t beat the Heat.

the knicks are getting called for breathing on his highness and his praetorian guard…makes it a little difficult to play D that way, and so the Knicks have given up….the Knicks have two options at this point…either let it happen or earn the fouls and risk suspensions…the NBA should be embarrassed….

BigBlueAL:
Is everyone here actually really blaming the refs for this ass-whooping??The Knicks offense is looking like a middle-school offense but its the refs’ fault??

Let’s not ignore the fact that these are human beings who realize how badly they’re being boned right now. It would be tough to play with full intensity when it’s this obvious the refs are biased. The Knicks should still probably be down, but it should be 5-10 points not 20

ognyc:
the knicks are getting called for breathing on his highness and his praetorian guard…makes it a little difficult to play D that way, and so the Knicks have given up….the Knicks have two options at this point…either let it happen or earn the fouls and risk suspensions…the NBA should be embarrassed….

Well at this rate our PG and C will be fouled out of the game before long. Might as well make each of their last fouls count.

The bad officiating is not beside the point at all. No one is saying the Knicks are playing well. But when you aren’t playing well and the balance of physicality and rhythm is going against you as well then you have no chance. So sure the Knicks looked bad but frankly so did the Heat except they got bailed out by the refs.

flossy: THANK YOU.The bad (and it is bad) reffing is practically beside the point.The Knicks are playing so terribly it barely matters.Stagnant, uncreative offense, terrible turnovers, dumb fouls.Teams that don’t play smartly and assertively don’t get the benefit of the doubt from the refs, and they sure as hell don’t beat the Heat.

It’s not about being up right now, it’s about being given the chance to properly play. If the Knicks were within 10 after such a bad start by Melo, they could feel pretty good about this game. But down 20 and with Baron and Chandler in serious foul trouble, this game is essentially over.

My point about blaming the refs is that its an easy cop-out. If the Knick players themselves use that as an excuse and not realize how God awful their offense has been they are going to get swept. This team has not earned the right to blame the refs for getting blown out against a team that is clearly better than them. Its loser talk and a loser mentality.

sorry…but this is not an accurate assessment of the situation, its human nature to stop trying when you know you’re getting hosed…the refs have decided this game…its an embarrassment for the league…the Knicks should channel their ’90s series against the Heat…

BigBlueAL:
My point about blaming the refs is that its an easy cop-out.If the Knick players themselves use that as an excuse and not realize how God awful their offense has been they are going to get swept.This team has not earned the right to blame the refs for getting blown out against a team that is clearly better than them.Its loser talk and a loser mentality.

BigBlueAL:
My point about blaming the refs is that its an easy cop-out.If the Knick players themselves use that as an excuse and not realize how God awful their offense has been they are going to get swept.This team has not earned the right to blame the refs for getting blown out against a team that is clearly better than them.Its loser talk and a loser mentality.

Although that last tech given to Melo was a joke lol

I like that attitude. But, the games got to be fair. Or, somewhat fair.

One thing to feel positive about is that the Knicks defense has been pretty good overall. Their offense has cratered, but the Heat would not have this many points if it wasn’t for all the BS fouls. Hopefully Woodson is able to make some adjustments, they’re running the same play on offense every time and it’s just not working right now.

I am admittedly an unabashed Knicks homer who always thinks that they are getting robbed by the refs. However, I think that I am being relatively objective when I say that this is the worst officiated NBA game that I have ever seen. This is unbelievable…

Whelp, Chandler’s sick, Shump’s got a torn ACL and the Heat are clearly going to receive every possible advantage. Pack it up, see ya next season.

I hope the NBA is proud of itself; they got exactly what they wanted. The Knicks get utterly humiliated and debased at the hands of the referees and the Blessed Heat who are pre-ordained for a championship.

I remembered very shortly into this game why I ragequit on NBA basketball many years ago only to come back recently. I’ll stick with a sport that has integrity, like hockey.

I’m not saying Rose didn’t tear and ACL and MCL, I’m just saying that if you are saying that right now, you are probably guessing. It is really hard to confirm those sort of tears before the MRI occurs.

I think that, during one of the timeouts, the ABC brass ran over to Van Gundy and said, “Hey Jeff, ya gotta stop talking about how bad the refs have been. We need to pretend that the second quarter was a dominant performance by the Heat, NOT a complete massacre by the refs. Remember, the Heat are killing the Knicks, not the refs! Don’t mention the refs again! David Stern will pull our contract!”

Doug: You’re a Yankees fan, you should know about the fallacy of the predetermined outcome ;)

LOL we all assumed Magic would finish 1-3 and thats exactly what happened. Grizzlies had to win their final game so saying Magic didnt try to win that game cause it didnt matter to them I dont think mattered cause the Grizzlies were going to win that game regardless.

While I agree that the officiating was abysmal in the 2nd quarter, the idea that the NBA wants the Heat to blow out the Knicks in 4 straight while hiring assassins to sever Shump’s MCL and poisoning Tyson Chandler… get a fucking grip. If the NBA “wants” anything it’s a 7 game series.

Officiating in the NBA is generally pretty poor. Always has been and always will be. Someday we’ll replace them with robots a la tennis and it’ll get better.

Not a fan of conspiracy theories. The Knicks are inferior to the Heat and have to play extremely well to compete with this team. Instead, basically everything went wrong that could go wrong.

It’s one game, folks. If we were up 35, I’d be saying the same thing. If you believed the Knicks had a chance, there’s no reason not to continue to believe that. Our MVP — the 2nd most important player in the finals last year — was sick and played like crap.

I do believe the pressure is on Woodson to figure out how to get the Knicks into their offense because it was the turnovers that turned this game into a joke. Further, if you look back at last year’s finals, it was Dallas’s ability to keep Miami out of transition that made them beatable.

This is why you don’t try to predict playoff games before they’re played.

Obviously one-sided officiating was a big factor in changing the psyche/momentum for both teams. Allowed Miami to play with freedom, put the Knicks even further back on its heels.

Woodson has done a horrible job creating sets to counteract the Heat’s ridiculous overplays on the ball.

The Heat are taking huge advantage of the Knicks inability to get their point guard below the 3 pt line. Why? They are putting tremendous amount of pressure on the ballhandler, making it almost impossible for him to make a decent pass into the mid-post. The Heat aren’t defending Chandler as the roll guy, either, but Chandler is sick and wasn’t a threat when he got touches early on.

I see nothing new in the Knicks offense and Miami is much better prepared.

The Knicks don’t have all the ingredients to take advantage of Miami’s over-aggressive defense, but they will still play a lot better than this if they make a few obvious adjustments.

Don’t mean to interrupt Owen’s wet dream here, this will be a box score he can hang up and use for a long time.

Shump is a real downer. I hope he’s ok and this doesnt affect next year.

On the bright side, its just one game and we cant play much worse. Maybe TC gets healthier – he’s been terrible today. Also, maybe now we make some adjustments on offense. Play less lineups with JR at the 1 and instead split time with Bibby and BD. The lack of PG play in Q2 killed us today. I blame that onWoodson – he should have put bibby in.

johnlocke:
Running up the score and front-running as only Lebron and the Heat can. Put them in a pressure situation in a close game and they fold… get down 12 and you’re screwed b/c the pressure goes away

That’s correct. Best front-running, dominant-minded team in the game by far.

When they turn up the pressure on you and things startt going their, getting a few breaks, they only play harder.

Series doesn’t start until the other team gets on its heels a bit. Unless Woodson is a complete idiot, that should happen.

ruruland:
This is why you don’t try to predict playoff games before they’re played.

Obviously one-sided officiating was a big factor in changing the psyche/momentum for both teams.Allowed Miami to play with freedom, put the Knicks even further back on its heels.

Woodson has done a horrible job creating sets to counteract the Heat’s ridiculous overplays on the ball.

The Heat are taking huge advantage of the Knicks inability to get their point guard below the 3 pt line. Why? They are putting tremendous amount of pressure on the ballhandler, making it almost impossible for him to make a decent pass into the mid-post. The Heat aren’t defending Chandler as the roll guy, either, but Chandler is sick and wasn’t a threat when he got touches early on.

I see nothing new in the Knicks offense and Miami is much better prepared.

The Knicks don’t have all the ingredients to take advantage of Miami’s over-aggressive defense, but they will still play a lot better than this if they make a few obvious adjustments.

Don’t mean to interrupt Owen’s wet dream here, this will be a box score he can hang up and use for a long time.

tastycakes: While I agree that the officiating was abysmal in the 2nd quarter, the idea that the NBA wants the Heat to blow out the Knicks in 4 straight while hiring assassins to sever Shump’s MCL and poisoning Tyson Chandler… get a fucking grip. If the NBA “wants” anything it’s a 7 game series.

It’s not the NBA being biased towards one team or another, it’s the NBA giving superstars preferential treatment and rewarding them for flopping.

On the bright side, its just one game and we cant play much worse.Maybe TC gets healthier – he’s been terrible today.Also, maybe now we make some adjustments on offense.Play less lineups with JR at the 1 and instead split time with Bibby and BD.The lack of PG play in Q2 killed us today.I blame that onWoodson – he should have put bibby in.

Shump means we can’t win the series. Period. he was one of the most important players in this whole thing. Just awful. Tough to see that.

The one reason I can see this possibly being a really short series is the point guard issue. It’s so difficult to run offense against a great defensive team when your point guard isn’t a threat to do anything.

The HEat are already a great over-playing team, but it just makes it so much easier if they don’t have to worry about getting burned for their over-aggressiveness.

The thing about the playoffs is that these key weaknesses get totally exploited. Great teams are good enough to exploit them over and over again.

Yes, Woodson’s rotations and adjustment play-calling (or lack thereof) was piss-poor. But so was the play.
But when the game was actually in the balance (before the ridiculous 2nd quarter run) — Melo was just missing shots that were gimmes over the last few games. He just didn’t look confident in his game….I’m hoping he comes back with a big Game 2….similar to last year when he played poorly in Game 1. But man, esp. now with Shump out this is going to be an uphill slog just to win a game

ruruland:
This is why you don’t try to predict playoff games before they’re played.

Obviously one-sided officiating was a big factor in changing the psyche/momentum for both teams.Allowed Miami to play with freedom, put the Knicks even further back on its heels.

Woodson has done a horrible job creating sets to counteract the Heat’s ridiculous overplays on the ball.

On the bright side, its just one game and we cant play much worse.Maybe TC gets healthier – he’s been terrible today.Also, maybe now we make some adjustments on offense.Play less lineups with JR at the 1 and instead split time with Bibby and BD.The lack of PG play in Q2 killed us today.I blame that onWoodson – he should have put bibby in.

Yeah, it seemed like as soon as Baron got his 3rd foul is when the massacre started.

ruruland:
This is why you don’t try to predict playoff games before they’re played.

Obviously one-sided officiating was a big factor in changing the psyche/momentum for both teams.Allowed Miami to play with freedom, put the Knicks even further back on its heels.

Woodson has done a horrible job creating sets to counteract the Heat’s ridiculous overplays on the ball.

The Heat are taking huge advantage of the Knicks inability to get their point guard below the 3 pt line. Why? They are putting tremendous amount of pressure on the ballhandler, making it almost impossible for him to make a decent pass into the mid-post. The Heat aren’t defending Chandler as the roll guy, either, but Chandler is sick and wasn’t a threat when he got touches early on.

I see nothing new in the Knicks offense and Miami is much better prepared.

The Knicks don’t have all the ingredients to take advantage of Miami’s over-aggressive defense, but they will still play a lot better than this if they make a few obvious adjustments.

Don’t mean to interrupt Owen’s wet dream here, this will be a box score he can hang up and use for a long time.

Forgot who tweeted that the Heat didnt front the post entire season until they fronted Melo in the post today. Sounds odd though because Riley with the Knicks used to front the post on D alot and Spoelstra obviously has learned from Riley so maybe it was something they talked about prior to this series.

why was nobody cutting/slashing one melo did finally get his hands on the ball?

I still cant get over lopsided the officiating was. although you cant blame the refs for this loss..we can all admit that the bad foul calls (especially in the second quarter) were a huge hit to our momentum and sucked all the life out of the team. this is supposed to be the playoffs.

He should have kept Davis in…(Baron picked up 3 fouls) and we were destroyed shortly thereafter I believe. Baron’s not gonna pick up 6 fouls…why do all couches yank players with 2 fouls in the first and 3 in the 2nd…like it’s some rule…stupidity on Woodson’s part. He’s playing Mario Chalmers, not Derrick Rose

On the bright side, its just one game and we cant play much worse.Maybe TC gets healthier – he’s been terrible today.Also, maybe now we make some adjustments on offense.Play less lineups with JR at the 1 and instead split time with Bibby and BD.The lack of PG play in Q2 killed us today.I blame that onWoodson – he should have put bibby in.

BigBlueAL: Forgot who tweeted that the Heat didnt front the post entire season until they fronted Melo in the post today.Sounds odd though because Riley with the Knicks used to front the post on D alot and Spoelstra obviously has learned from Riley so maybe it was something they talked about prior to this series.

Well, there’s typically a reason why you don’t front the post.

Two things: The Heat were able to really bother the passer in that situation, making the angles very tough to throw into.

You get a point guard who can threaten the defender with penetration, all of a sudden he plays off the point guard, and said point guard has a clear angle to throw the lob in.

Third, if you front Melo and bring the big in behind, if the point guard can threaten the defense, he gets by his overplay and there is an easy shot in the corner.

I guess…both Melo went on his tear with the same group of players and scored 42 against the Heat with the same group of players. The Heat played him differently, both Melo and Woodson needed to adjust. But Melo was bricking a lot of easy shots also. He struggled, as you said, 3-15 just won’t cut it. If we don’t have Melo playing out of his mind, this series will likely be a sweep. Amare just never seems to have big games against the Heat

ruruland: Melo struggled today. But, again, so much of the game is about being put in a good position to score the basketball.

When you have distinct weaknesses on your roster, either limiting the ability to space the floor, or limiting your ability to threaten the defense, it makes offense extremely hard.

Melo and Amar’e are great players when they have some necessary things around the ball, i.e: a ballhandler that can threaten the defense, some shooting.

2FOR18: I’ve done that with football but not bball.You are right.I don’t know how many times I bet in a team and knew 2 minutes into the game I was screed

I have Anderson over 16.5.

It’s the biggest addiction in my life right now. Some people must be really horrible because I always seem to come out on top. I was losing hard early but some of these lines when the momentum was turning were ridiculous.

Bulleya1:
why was nobody cutting/slashing one melo did finally get his hands on the ball?

I still cant get over lopsided the officiating was. although you cant blame the refs for this loss..we can all admit that the bad foul calls (especially in the second quarter) were a huge hit to our momentum and sucked all the life out of the team. this is supposed to be the playoffs.

Ruru — what adjustments do you think we can make? I need some optimism…think I’ve gotten my venting out. One would be to get Melo the ball on the move as opposed to having him stranded on an island in isolation against a defensive player of the year candidate. We also need to get Amare more involved.
JR also just needs to calm the fuck down….he was probably the worst knick today

ruruland: It’s the biggest addiction in my life right now. Some people must be really horrible because I always seem to come out on top. I was losing hard early but some of these lines when the momentum was turning were ridiculous.

A lot of people bet using the “due” theory. ie. the knicks are getting killed so they’re due to go on a run. But if you can identify why what is happening is happening you can make some money.

ruruland: It’s the biggest addiction in my life right now. Some people must be really horrible because I always seem to come out on top. I was losing hard early but some of these lines when the momentum was turning were ridiculous.

johnlocke:
Ruru — what adjustments do you think we can make? I need some optimism…think I’ve gotten my venting out. One would be to get Melo the ball on the move as opposed to having him stranded on an island in isolation against a defensive player of the year candidate. We also need to get Amare more involved.
JR also just needs to calm the fuck down….he was probably the worst knick today

The way I’d like to see the Knicks adjust is to have Chandler or Amar’e come out to the mid-post and hi-low to Anthony.

Now you have a passing angle and the ability to lob the ball over without help.

This is why having bigs with passing skills is so crucial. I think they can both do it.

Obviously, you want Melo coming off screens, too, but let’s remember that the Heat overplay all screens and deny ball-reversals.

This is one team where you’re going to have back-door opportunities. I’d also like to see a lot more Amar’e pick and roll, but Amar’e needs to be a decision-maker not just a scorer.

But I would basically invert my offense so that Chandler or Amar’e play the post-entry. if they choose to double Melo in that situation, you should have space to come back and execute a chandler pick and roll.

But you’re going to need to get more than just one or two actions on this team. it will take time to adjust to this defense, but it won’t get worse than today.

I’d like to see Mike Bibby play more. I know it sounds ludicrous to say something like that, but Bibby recently has played reasonably TO free games and even hit a couple of 3s. He’s got a lot of playoff expereince and plays in control. To me, we lost the 2nd quarter because of the refs and some inexplicable TOs out on the perimeter because we have no point guard.

Dont get me wrong – losing Shump is a disaster. But if it means playing less minutes without a true PG, then it could be positive. Woodson has been lulled into thinking he can get away with a JR/Shump backcourt. Hopefully today he realized against guys that play great pressure D, he cant.

Finally, a bit more heresy I know, but Landry Fields can be valuable in this series. He’s the best off the ball cutter on this team and he should be able to get free for a bunch of backdoor easy hoops.

One thing about the playoffs is that it’s very easy to overreact to one game. You see this kind of thing every year. Many evenly-matched series have 1-2 blow-outs.

There are some pretty big warning sings that it could be a quick series, namely the fundamental structural problems with the offense, but don’t expect a team with Melo Chandler and Amar’e to just fade away, either.

And don’t forget the Heat are frontrunners. Going to miss Shump’s tenacity and emotional energy. He was a great fighter, too.

JR Sec 112:
I’d like to see Mike Bibby play more.I know it sounds ludicrous to say something like that, but Bibby recently has played reasonably TO free games and even hit a couple of 3s.He’s got a lot of playoff expereince and plays in control.To me, we lost the 2nd quarter because of the refs and some inexplicable TOs out on the perimeter because we have no point guard.

Dont get me wrong – losing Shump is a disaster.But if it means playing less minutes without a true PG, then it could be positive.Woodson has been lulled into thinking he can get away with a JR/Shump backcourt. Hopefully today he realized against guys that play great pressure D, he cant.

Finally, a bit more heresy I know, but Landry Fields can be valuable in this series.He’s the best off the ball cutter on this team and he should be able to get free for a bunch of backdoor easy hoops.

78% of Teams that win game 1 win the series. Dreaming of upsets just went down to 22%.

Observation – Melo wants postup versus LB. LB fronting him and using his strength to move him to a bad position. Melo going need run through some screen double to get that position he wants. Otherwise that entry pass it hard to make because of backside help. Plus his postup killing movement of the team. Amare and Fields get confused where to run sometime.

What happen to the PNR? Have Melo, BD, Fields or Smith run it more with Amare and TC. If Miami trap hard, lets see if we can get it to the roller. Also maybe we get cheap fouls through contact if they trap hard.

More then one person said this, but Woodson needs try zone defense. Fine if LB & Wade beat us with their jumpers, so be it. But I don’t want to see anymore more highlight reel drives.

JC Knickfan:
78% of Teams that win game 1 win the series. Dreaming of upsets just went down to 22%.

Observation – Melo wants postup versus LB. LB fronting him and using his strength to move him to a bad position. Melo going need run through some screen double to get that position he wants. Otherwise that entry pass it hard to make because of backside help.Plus his postup killing movement of the team. Amare and Fields get confused where to run sometime.

What happen to the PNR?Have Melo, BD, Fields or Smith run it more with Amare and TC. If Miami trap hard, lets see if we can get it to the roller. Also maybe we get cheap fouls through contact if they trap hard.

More then one person said this, but Woodson needs try zone defense. Fine if LB & Wade beat us with their jumpers, so be it.But I don’t want to see anymore more highlight reel drives.

I really didn’t think they Heat beat us with drives. Transition points and they were hot with jumpers.

JC Knickfan:
78% of Teams that win game 1 win the series. Dreaming of upsets just went down to 22%.

Observation – Melo wants postup versus LB. LB fronting him and using his strength to move him to a bad position. Melo going need run through some screen double to get that position he wants. Otherwise that entry pass it hard to make because of backside help.Plus his postup killing movement of the team. Amare and Fields get confused where to run sometime.

What happen to the PNR?Have Melo, BD, Fields or Smith run it more with Amare and TC. If Miami trap hard, lets see if we can get it to the roller. Also maybe we get cheap fouls through contact if they trap hard.

More then one person said this, but Woodson needs try zone defense. Fine if LB & Wade beat us with their jumpers, so be it.But I don’t want to see anymore more highlight reel drives.

Knicks lost Game 1 vs Heat in 1998 and 2000 and still won the series. There is still hope!! lol

Why is it that the US media never discusses officials even when they do an extremely poor job ? In the biggest sport in the world “football” officials are criticized all the time, the media is the watch dog over officials.

BigBlueAL: Knicks lost Game 1 vs Heat in 1998 and 2000 and still won the series.There is still hope!!lol

If going steal game on their court – game 1 put history on your side. Of course there still change as 22% way better then nothing. Again, Hahn and Kelly Tripucka says lack PG play again is hurting scoring.

BD shot was going down, but Woodson sat him because he had 4 fouls in 17 minutes. If game was closer he would have play more and probably foul out.

I know some you asking for Bibby, but 21 min 0-4 FG and 2 assists. Sure he doesn’t have many TO and has great TO-Assits ratio, but not going create alot opportunies when playing point. To is not Bobcats. Offense quite stagnant with him at pg.

ruruland:
This is why you don’t try to predict playoff games before they’re played.

Obviously one-sided officiating was a big factor in changing the psyche/momentum for both teams.Allowed Miami to play with freedom, put the Knicks even further back on its heels.

Woodson has done a horrible job creating sets to counteract the Heat’s ridiculous overplays on the ball.

The Heat are taking huge advantage of the Knicks inability to get their point guard below the 3 pt line. Why? They are putting tremendous amount of pressure on the ballhandler, making it almost impossible for him to make a decent pass into the mid-post. The Heat aren’t defending Chandler as the roll guy, either, but Chandler is sick and wasn’t a threat when he got touches early on.

I see nothing new in the Knicks offense and Miami is much better prepared.

The Knicks don’t have all the ingredients to take advantage of Miami’s over-aggressive defense, but they will still play a lot better than this if they make a few obvious adjustments.

Don’t mean to interrupt Owen’s wet dream here, this will be a box score he can hang up and use for a long time.

Just what I expected. You are blaming everybody for this loss but Melo. It’s everybody’s fault –even the referees and the floor moppers — but your hero is blameless.

The 78% only has impact when you think of all playoff series beginning as even matches, but, of course, this is not at all true. The 78% includes all the mismatches throughout history where the lesser team didn’t have a prayer.

That said, I sure wouldn’t bet the 22% in this case.

And, remember, 100% of teams that win the LAST game win the series. (Hint: Just don’t lose the last game.)

JC Knickfan: Come on – Zone not going to make difference this game.Scoring 67 pt is not going win any playoff games.

I’m talking game 2 adjustment.Obvious I expect Woodson to make quite a few of them. Obvious offense needs the most work.Miami shot 48%, zone hopefully decrease paint points.

Game 2 adjustment means play the whole game with a PG. I vote BD for 25 and bibby for 23. Its all about matchups. You dont need to guard the point when you play Miami – you need to worry about 3 guys. Chandler needs to outplay Bosh and help on LeBron. Melo needs to play Lebron tough. Now instead of Shump, Landry/JR need to do ok on Wade. The real problem defensively today was Chandler.

But an even bigger problem was TOs. I dont even care if Bibby doesnt bring that much on O, he cuts down on the turnovers. And when you play pressure defense off the ball (like LBJ and Wade do), you need a good PG to create a passing lane off the dribble. JR Smith cant do that. Shumpert cant do that either. Thats why against Miami, they must have a PG on the court at all times.

And a PG would recognize a double team on Melo quicker and swing the ball around to Amare. Amare has 1×1 all night vs. Haslem/Bosh, he needs to dominate that matchup. BD realized all this in Q1 and got Amare a couple good looks.

Bison:BigBlueAL:
Speculation on Twitter Shump with torn ACL, if thats the case will he even be ready for beginning of next season??Ditto Derrick Rose??

I hope nobody starts insinuating that Shump is a pussy for sitting out the next few games.I got really tired of that with Lin.

BigBlueAL: Seriously sucks Knicks have to play the Heat right now when they couldve been playing a short-handed Bulls team or an overrated Pacers team.

If the knicks play the bulls, those injuries never happen. Those plays were a result of being in those particular spots at that moment. Knicks vs Bulls, everything is different. I wouldn’t even be typing this. There’s a Bhuddist saying, “When a butterfly flaps his wings, it’s felt on the other side of the world”.

“Jeremy Lin (knee) played one-on-one Saturday and he’s ahead of schedule in his rehab, but his status for the first round of the playoffs is still questionable.
Lin was running, cutting and (for the first time we’ve heard since his surgery) moving laterally prior to Game 1 in Miami. The way the Heat are playing so far on Saturday, he may not get a chance to play in the second round. Apr 28 – 4:46 PM”

My guess he going play game 4 which we could be down 3-0 if Shump is out.

JR Sec 112: Game 2 adjustment means play the whole game with a PG.I vote BD for 25 and bibby for 23.Its all about matchups.You dont need to guard the point when you play Miami – you need to worry about 3 guys.Chandler needs to outplay Bosh and help on LeBron.Melo needs to play Lebron tough.Now instead of Shump, Landry/JR need to do ok on Wade.The real problem defensively today was Chandler.

But an even bigger problem was TOs.I dont even care if Bibby doesnt bring that much on O, he cuts down on the turnovers.And when you play pressure defense off the ball (like LBJ and Wade do), you need a good PG to create a passing lane off the dribble.JR Smith cant do that.Shumpert cant do that either.Thats why against Miami, they must have a PG on the court at all times.

I hope we watching same game. Bibby low TO because he give the ball to Smith to handle point guard duties. Is he really playing point or off-guard position. Woodson needs ask him actually play point guard. This means running PNR trying create some shots and he does need to hit few 3’s as he going to be open.

You know how when you apply for some government jobs, They send Their People to ask your friends, family, coworkers, teachers, et al. if you’ve ever espoused anti-American rhetoric or whatever?

I’d guess that ruruland is eying up a book deal a la Brian Windhorst (that LeBron-sucking toad), and he’s afraid the publishers will ask him, under pressure of polygraph, whether he’s ever spoken negatively of his subject. A clean conscience will ensure that he gets the deal, and gets one step closer to his ultimate goal: eating pizza and playing video games on the reg with his #1 Best Friend, Carmelo “I’ve Got a Portrait of Myself above the Fireplace” Anthony.

The Honorable Cock Jowles: You can stop there. Once you feel the need to discuss Mike Bibby’s impact on your playoff hopes, stop. You should know that it’s futile. Mike Bibby.

Yes – I guess that’s true. OK going to hope Lin does come back game 3 and Shump only has a sprain knee. He also come back game 3 and sweep we them at home. I will at least concede game 2 to Miami to make this happen.

Thomas B.:
It is not just the Cavs game, it is every game of the season where this team did not show up ready to play.

This is what I say to all the people that were perfectly fine with Melo quitting on MDA just to get him ousted. This is the reason why things like that are just unacceptable. Big deal you get a coach out, then you draw a horrible matchup because you gave away 1 too many games. I promised myself I wouldn’t get too happy or too sad based off of game 1. Truthfully after seeing the clips of Lin working out I can’t help but feel like that timetable is going to be pushed up considerably if the Knicks don’t recover in game 2. How sick would it be to see a rebirth of Linsanity at this point?

Spree8nyk8: This is what I say to all the people that were perfectly fine with Melo quitting on MDA just to get him ousted.This is the reason why things like that are just unacceptable.Big deal you get a coach out, then you draw a horrible matchup because you gave away 1 too many games.I promised myself I wouldn’t get too happy or too sad based off of game 1.Truthfully after seeing the clips of Lin working out I can’t help but feel like that timetable is going to be pushed up considerably if the Knicks don’t recover in game 2.How sick would it be to see a rebirth of Linsanity at this point?

Linsanity as we knew it is officially over. There will never be a rebirth of Linsanity with Woodson as coach. Lin will still be very useful and this team misses him badly but his return wont have the same impact as the original Linsanity had but it still would be a huge help.

BigBlueAL:
@WojYahooNBA: New York’s Iman Shumpert has suffered a torn ACL in his left knee, league source tells Y! Sports.

Will he even be ready for the start of next season??

Seriously, this team is so doomed by injuries or something bizarre (suspensions, 1997) come playoff time almost every season…last year Billups and Amare go down game 1, this year Iman game 1…in the late 90s it was Ewing pretty much breaking down at the start of the playoffs in some shape or form, or Marcus Camby’s relatives being held hostage….just unbelievable!

Spree8nyk8: This is what I say to all the people that were perfectly fine with Melo quitting on MDA just to get him ousted.This is the reason why things like that are just unacceptable.Big deal you get a coach out, then you draw a horrible matchup because you gave away 1 too many games.I promised myself I wouldn’t get too happy or too sad based off of game 1.Truthfully after seeing the clips of Lin working out I can’t help but feel like that timetable is going to be pushed up considerably if the Knicks don’t recover in game 2.How sick would it be to see a rebirth of Linsanity at this point?

The Honorable Cock Jowles:
You know how when you apply for some government jobs, They send Their People to ask your friends, family, coworkers, teachers, et al. if you’ve ever espoused anti-American rhetoric or whatever?

I’d guess that ruruland is eying up a book deal a la Brian Windhorst (that LeBron-sucking toad), and he’s afraid the publishers will ask him, under pressure of polygraph, whether he’s ever spoken negatively of his subject. A clean conscience will ensure that he gets the deal, and gets one step closer to his ultimate goal: eating pizza and playing video games on the reg with his #1 Best Friend, Carmelo “I’ve Got a Portrait of Myself above the Fireplace” Anthony.

BigBlueAL: Linsanity as we knew it is officially over.There will never be a rebirth of Linsanity with Woodson as coach.Lin will still be very useful and this team misses him badly but his return wont have the same impact as the original Linsanity had but it still would be a huge help.

Sure not saying Linsanity would be the same as when it was JUST Lin, but at a minimum it would be really hard for them to play Melo the same way because if they opened up that much space trying to deny Melo like they did in Game 1 if Lin is healthy he’d just beat his man there. All I’m saying is having a pg that can drive and dish for more than 4 min stretches would be pretty useful right now.

Spree8nyk8: Sure not saying Linsanity would be the same as when it was JUST Lin, but at a minimum it would be really hard for them to play Melo the same way because if they opened up that much space trying to deny Melo like they did in Game 1 if Lin is healthy he’d just beat his man there.All I’m saying is having a pg that can drive and dish for more than 4 min stretches would be pretty useful right now.

Spree8nyk8: Sure not saying Linsanity would be the same as when it was JUST Lin, but at a minimum it would be really hard for them to play Melo the same way because if they opened up that much space trying to deny Melo like they did in Game 1 if Lin is healthy he’d just beat his man there.All I’m saying is having a pg that can drive and dish for more than 4 min stretches would be pretty useful right now.

I’m not second guessing Woodson on this at all, but we probably would have been better off if Chandler didn’t play. He was just a shell of himself out there, did you see him challenge one shot, grab one loose ball, throw down one dunk? We’re losing that game either way, but Chandler was of no use today. Very sad to see.

ruruland: if we can get to a game 5 I think there’s a chance Lin comes back.

Not trolling you here I promise. I think if it’s a wait till game 5 thing then that is gonna be really tough. I think if it’s 2-1 going into game 4 that needs to be the target. Just not sure if it would make much sense to rush him back for game 5 if it’s 3-1. And if it’s 2-2 then that means you have fought your way back into the series. I mean I’m sure I’m overthinking it, but it just seems to make sense for a game 3 return, or a game 4 return. With a post surgery return though I really can’t see a situation where you would be unable to go for game 4 and then able to go for game 5. He’s either close enough to go or he’s not. It would be different if this were an injury that he just got, then a couple of days can make a world of difference. But if you are talking about a person in their rehab a couple of days really doesn’t make a world of difference. And generally speaking I don’t really think that 5 weeks post op he’d be at further risk than being 6 weeks out.

When Salters interviewed Woodson after the first half and he said “we just gotta keep doing what we do” I don’t understand why he cannot adjust to a fronting defense.

JVG was quick on the telecast to explain that the Knicks needed a player to flash to the high post when that was happening. Adjustment was never made and Melo was left without the ball for many possessions.

1)Shump is done for the year- torn acl. his career is now threatened, at the very least he might not be ready for the beginning of next season. All of you on this thread that wanted to go for the wins at the end of the year, I hope you are happy now. Shump could have used the rest at the end of the year. It couldn’t have hurt, and might have prevented this.

2)JR and Novak are gone- let’s be real. They are not taking less money to stay here.

3)Lin- we don’t know how effective he will be when he does come back and if he can hold up to a grueling 82 games.

5)Woodson needs to go. He proved he can’t coach by his substitution pattern in the cleveland game and the finale against the bobcats. Shaq was interviewed and said that Phil Jackson absolutely played for matchups and told shaq to sit on several occasions. I want a chessmaster as a head coach, not a buffoon like woodson.

6)Knicks are not coming back to win this series. Stick a fork, the fat lady has sung. No point guard, the bench will be thinned out now that JR will start. It’s over.

7)The heat have a clear path to the NBA finals now. Hopefully OKC or san antonio get’s there healthy, so they can put up a challenge. The only thing I have to watch or care about now, is that the heat lose eventually.

Spree8nyk8: Not trolling you here I promise.I think if it’s a wait till game 5 thing then that is gonna be really tough.I think if it’s 2-1 going into game 4 that needs to be the target.Just not sure if it would make much sense to rush him back for game 5 if it’s 3-1.And if it’s 2-2 then that means you have fought your way back into the series.I mean I’m sure I’m overthinking it, but it just seems to make sense for a game 3 return, or a game 4 return. With a post surgery return though I really can’t see a situation where you would be unable to go for game 4 and then able to go for game 5.He’s either close enough to go or he’s not.It would be different if this were an injury that he just got, then a couple of days can make a world of difference.But if you are talking about a person in their rehab a couple of days really doesn’t make a world of difference.And generally speaking I don’t really think that 5 weeks post op he’d be at further risk than being 6 weeks out.

I agree with you. (Disagreeing with the things I actually write isn’t trolling me. No problem with that.)

But let’s remember how Amar’e did his rehab. the thing I’d like to do see is get Lin 10-15 minutes to get his feet wet in a game 3 or 4.

It at least would give Miami a lot more to think about. I’d even contemplate some two point guard line-ups with Lin. Davis can be ok on Wadefor a few minutes.

1)Shump is done for the year- torn acl. his career is now threatened, at the very least he might not be ready for the beginning of next season. All of you on this thread that wanted to go for the wins at the end of the year, I hope you are happy now. Shump could have used the rest at the end of the year. It couldn’t have hurt, and might have prevented this.

2)JR and Novak are gone- let’s be real. They are not taking less money to stay here.

3)Lin- we don’t know how effective he will be when he does come back and if he can hold up to a grueling 82 games.

5)Woodson needs to go. He proved he can’t coach by his substitution pattern in the cleveland game and the finale against the bobcats. Shaq was interviewed and said that Phil Jackson absolutely played for matchups and told shaq to sit on several occasions. I want a chessmaster as a head coach, not a buffoon like woodson.

6)Knicks are not coming back to win this series. Stick a fork, the fat lady has sung. No point guard, the bench will be thinned out now that JR will start. It’s over.

7)The heat have a clear path to the NBA finals now. Hopefully OKC or san antonio get’s there healthy, so they can put up a challenge.The only thing I have to watch or care about now, is that the heat lose eventually.

Not a bad perspective to have, really. Basically anything positive from here on out is frosting.

wouldn’t Miami just trap the hell out of a borderline ready to be back Lin and cause turnover after turnover? he had trouble getting the ball up court against them at the peak of Linsanity, it’s hard to think his likely rushed return would really help.

sadly one win in this series will be a “success” to me at this point. it will really suck if we are swept again, even by the team I just picked to win the title (over SA).

jon abbey:
wouldn’t Miami just trap the hell out of a borderline ready to be back Lin and cause turnover after turnover? he had trouble getting the ball up court against them at the peak of Linsanity, it’s hard to think his likely rushed return would really help.

sadly one win in this series will be a “success” to me at this point. it will really suck if we are swept again, even by the team I just picked to win the title (over SA).

Abbey, I’m not saying they won’t trap the hell out of Lin. I’m sure they will, but by doing so it should make it easier to swing the ball and get it into Melo. Maybe I’m wrong, idk, it just seemed to me like while melo was having a sumo match trying to get position for an entry pass there was like this huge ocean of space that Lin would have just driven into. I just don’t think at this point with (today put aside) as hot as Melo has been,for them to be able to double on Lin. Back when they did that Melo was playing like dogshit. Now Melo can punish them for doing that.

Is that naive? Idk, like I said I saw tons of driving space today that could have been used to drive, but our pgs are like 100 years old. I mean in the first quarter even Baron was driving into that space.

Spree8nyk8:
Abbey, I’m not saying they won’t trap the hell out of Lin.I’m sure they will, but by doing so it should make it easier to swing the ball and get it into Melo.Maybe I’m wrong, idk, it just seemed to me like while melo was having a sumo match trying to get position for an entry pass there was like this huge ocean of space that Lin would have just driven into.I just don’t think at this point with (today put aside) as hot as Melo has been,for them to be able to double on Lin.Back when they did that Melo was playing like dogshit.Now Melo can punish them for doing that.

Is that naive? Idk, like I said I saw tons of driving space today that could have been used to drive, but our pgs are like 100 years old.I mean in the first quarter even Baron was driving into that space.

This. Back then Lin was getting trapped in pick and rolls. We’d be asking him to beat his defender 1-1, making it 4 on 3 or 5-3. (Lebron being behind Melo essentially picking himself)

Man, this board is depressing. I know the news on Shump sucks, but 1. we are only down 1-0 on the road and we werent expecting to win 2 in Miami, so lets not get crazy and 2. we still have a nice nucleus coming back next year – Melo, Chandler, Amare, Lin, and, yes, Shump (at least around Jan-Feb at worst). Oh, and 3. the official KB MVP Chanlder had his worst game of the season this year and is likely to be a little healthier for game 2. 4. the refs killed us this game, which (hopefully) doesnt consistently happen.

Really, its not that bad – both the future (bright) and the series (not over). I know we are all snakebit and all, but maybe a little optimism is warranted sometimes? Oh, and calls to fire Woodson on the basis of this loss are just plain ridiculous.

2FOR18: You pick a day when your boy goes 3-15 to mock Anderson?They both sucked today.

No, actually I think the entire comparison is completely absurd. But that’s what happens when you don’t apply any context to a game and treat every shot the same.

My point was more that Anderson will struggle without Howard, though you’re right that Owen thinks Anderson is a significantly better player than Melo. (Anderson is actually one of the 10 best players in the NBA obviously)

ruruland: No, actually I think the entire comparison is completely absurd. But that’s what happens when you don’t apply any context to a game and treat every shot the same.

My point was more that Anderson will struggle without Howard, though you’re right that Owen thinks Anderson is a significantly better player than Melo. (Anderson is actually one of the 10 best players in the NBA obviously)

Maybe. I actually think Harden’s size and quickness make him better physically than JR. JR can jump higher, but that doesn’t mean much when you try to avoid contact. Harden is already a master at the Billups “rake through” at the rim play, and showing contact.

But he’s a very skilled passer and better from the time he starts his dribble to the amount of time it takes him to get to the basket. Quick and a long, powerful strider.

The level of difficulty between the kinds of shots Jr takes in this offense and those that Harden take is huge.

JR actually played a Harden role on offense a few years in the league– he posted 590-600TS when he was a catch-and-shoot, transition and drive against rotation player like Harden.

To me, the thing that seperates them the most is Harden’s playmaking in the pnr — he’s great there.

If you watch this series though, pay attention to the kinds of shots Harden gets — how he gets them, the defender’s he’s playing and how the defense defends him with Westbrook and Durant on the floor.